Stately homes abroad to be saved for nation

Conservation » Change in law will allow English Heritage to protect properties overseas, such as Clive of India's villa in Calcutta

The ruins of Lord Clive's 18th-century house in Dum Dum on the outskirts of Calcutta in India could be rescued under a radical change in the law that will allow English Heritage to help protect properties abroad for the first time.

A hard-hitting review of its work reveals that it intends to use the powers in the National Heritage Act, which come into force next month, to play "a more influential role in Europe and on the wider international stage".

The new powers are a major breakthrough, said Dan Cruickshank, the architectural historian and star of BBC2's House Detectives, who highlighted concerns about the way Clive's once stately home was being allowed to fall into ruin.

Robert Clive laid the foundations for the British Empire by defeating the French and Mogul armies in India in 1757. Yet his elegant former residence was a largely forgotten ruin when Cruickshank and his crew filmed there.

The TV presenter said there were important buildings dotted around the former British empire in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the West Indies that could be saved thanks to the new statutory powers to operate overseas.

Forgotten gems worthy of saving include the Watson Hotel in Bombay, one of the earliest iron structures in the world; the garrison church in Delhi; Fort St George in Madras; and the Villa of the Heart's Delight, in Kabul, which was used as an arms dump before the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan

"There are buildings of huge importance in India and Pakistan," said Cruickshank. "It is fantastic that the law has been changed in this way."

The House Detectives team approached English Heritage to help with the preservation of Lord Clive's House, now partly occupied by squatters, but were told the organisation could not operate abroad.

The legislation will not allow UK grants to be poured into historic buildings abroad, but English Heritage, which is responsible for advising ministers and running some of Britain's most historic buildings, will be able to help mount rescue projects.

The National Heritage Act has given the state-funded conservation body powers to trade abroad for the first time, enabling it to sell money-raising souvenirs, offer advice, sell books and films, and provide services to protect foreign ancient monuments and historic buildings.

Culture minister Baroness Blackstone said there was no intention to compete abroad with commercial conservation companies, but it is hoped that English Heritage will be able to win grants from the European Union for its work.

Equally excited by the change was Lucinda Lambton. The writer and TV presenter who has campaigned for the preservation of the English heritage, from churches to Victorian wallpaper workshops, said there were "sensational" buildings and monuments in the West Indies that should be preserved.

Lady Lambton recently returned from an eight-week trip to photographneglected Victorian and Georgian edifices in Barbados, Jamaica and Antigua for a book and a television series. Some Georgian squares have been preserved, but other buildings still lie undiscovered, she said.

"Battling through the jungles, climbing through undergrowth, there was one fort from 1690 – it was either made out of sugar or jade. It was bright green!"

Jamaica expert Douglas Blain, said the know-how of English Heritage would be invaluable in helping to restore rare slate roof of Alley Church, a late-17th century building desperately in need of repair.

Mr Blain, secretary of the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust in London, said Falmouth, a remarkable Georgian town on the island's north coast, had many houses worth saving, such as the Barrett House, dated 1799, the sugar planters' home of the ancestors of the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Other buildings in need of rescue include Kenilworth sugar factory, and Colbeck Castle and Stokes Hall, both owned by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust.

"The Barrett house is in a truly pitiable state because nobody has any money to spend on it," said Mr Blain. "It would be a perfect subject for English Heritage."

English Heritage said it had already had approaches from Brazil, Japan, China, Hungary, South Africa and Canada, as well as India, for advice in preserving monuments and buildings.

In the past, English Heritage imported the help of Indian craftsmen for the restoration of the Durbar Room at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, the former home of Queen Victoria.

Osborne is one of the 409 historic properties for which it is responsible. In 2001-02 it spent £17m on maintaining the properties and £29m on visitor facilities, with an estimated income of £25m. A review of its portfolio is being carried out as part of efforts to improve its conservation work.

The report also found English Heritage staff thought it was "punching below its weight as a champion of the historic environment".

English Heritage – quinquennial review: www.culture.gov.uk

Neglected gems of a colonial past: buildings in need of rescue

Lord Clive's House, Calcutta

Lord Robert Clive built the once celebrated villa at Dum Dum, Calcutta in 1757, 13 years after his arrival on the subcontinent. The building was erected following its owner's celebrated participation in the victory over the French at the Battle of Plassey. A cross between oriental and Georgian styles, Lord Clive's House fell into post-colonial ruin and was taken over by squatters after the British left.

Stokes Great Hall House, Jamaica

Located in the parish of St Thomas, the ruins are possibly the oldest of their kind in Jamaica. Luke Stokes, former governor of Nevis, came to Jamaica in 1656 following the capture of the island from the Spaniards – bringing with him all his family and 1,000 settlers. Within a few months, he, his wife and two-thirds of the immigrants fell sick and died, but his three young sons survived and eventually prospered and one of them built Stokes Hall. The building, set on the crest of a hill and surrounded by dense cultivation, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1907 and now stands in ruin. It is now cared for by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust.

Colbeck Castle, Jamaica

The castle was built by Colonel John Colbeck, one of the first English settlers in Jamaica. Colbeck is said to have arrived with Oliver Cromwell in 1655, and the castle, which was built roughly 25 years later, originally served as a military defence against the Spaniards. Fashioned in the style of an Italian 17th-century mansion, it was built in the Palladio style of architecture, and is reputedly the biggest building in the Caribbean area. The castle was burnt along with many other buildings when slavery ended in the 1830s. Today, the remaining walls show the grandeur of the structure and still stand to their full height. The building is located in open country about two miles north of Old Harbour, St Catherine.

Claire Newbon and Simon Coughlin